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Santa Monica Daily Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015
Volume 14 Issue 97
SALARY CUT NEEDED SEE PAGE 5
Survey: More farmers, cooking demos, variety wanted at market
Matthew Hall matt@smdp.com
SANTA SKIP: Don Skipworth played
BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON
Santa for many years.
Daily Press Staff Writer
He put the Santa in Santa Monica Don Skipworth, beloved holiday icon, remembered
Rent board seeks stricter buyout policies CITY HALL Last year, City Council
Matthew Hall matt@smdp.com
MARKET SURVEY: Customers of the Main Street market asked for more diversity in a recent survey.
BY JEFFREY I. GOODMAN
BY DAVID MARK SIMPSON
Daily Press Staff Writer
Daily Press Staff Writer
CITYWIDE Every year he’d come to town from Santa Barbara, put on his red costume and flood the city with holiday cheer, not to make money but to make a difference. Although he didn’t live in Santa Monica, he became something of a local icon, a symbol of hope and happiness for the children and families he met around town. “He felt like he was spreading magic,” Lauralee Asch said of Don Skipworth, who died of cancer Feb. 23 at the age of 78. “You thought of him, you thought of Santa.” Skipworth, better known as “Santa Skip” in these parts, was a longtime educator and accomplished chef who found purpose in bringing joy to others as a bubbly, bearded Santa Claus. He flourished as the central fig-
MAIN STREET The answer was in the question.
When city officials asked Main Street Farmers Market attendees, in a survey last month, what would make the market better, they said: more farmers. Attendees of the market on Feb. 15 were asked to drop stickers next to multiple-choice answers to three questions about the market. A fourth board allowed attendees to leave comments, which were overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the soon-to-be-ousted pony rides at the weekend market. Nearly 370 attendees placed stickers in response to that first question, and 178 of them asked for more farmers. The second most popular response, with 81 stickers, was more entertainment. The second question asked, “Which educational activity would most motivate you to attend this market?” to which 146 of the 372 respondents said cooking demos and work-
tightened tenant harassment law, making a bunch of changes - some of which have already resulted in litigation brought against landlords. One change, which seeks to increase transparency when landlords try to buy tenants out of their homes, was discussed by the Rent Control Board last week. The board was to consider whether it or the City Clerk should be the keeper of new agreements (now required before any buyout is finalized) but conversation expanded into propositions of creating stricter requirements. Because of Santa Monica’s Rent Control Law, landlords cannot raise the rents of most tenants in the city to market rate until their apartment is vacated. For this reason, many long-term tenants pay only a few hundred dollars each month, despite market rates in the thousands of dollars. In an attempt to raise rates, landlords have been known to offer buyouts. They might offer a tenant $10,000 to leave their apartment, knowing this will allow them to raise rents hundreds of dollars to market rate. Some renter advocates claim that landlords can be deceptive when making these offer or that
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SEE RENT PAGE 8
Gary Limjap (310) 586-0339 In today’s real estate climate ...
Experience counts! garylimjap@gmail.com www.garylimjap.com
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